Mets trade Addison Reed to Red Sox for three relief prospects

In the first trade of the day, the New York Mets decided to deal their closer Addison Reed to the Boston Red Sox, who will now be the setup man for Craig Kimbrel. Since Reed is a free agent at the end of the year, there wasn’t going to be a huge return for him in terms of top of the line prospects.

Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported that the Mets are getting three relief prospects from the Red Sox for Reed. Here are the three prospects they are reportedly getting back:

Before we talk about the prospects, let’s look at Reed’s numbers this season. In 48 games, the 28-year-old right-hander has a 2.57 ERA, is 19-for-21 in saves, and has 48 strikeouts in 49 innings. The strikeouts per nine innings (8.8) are down from last year (10.5), but he does have a 2.08 ERA over his last nine outings.

Now, let’s take a look at the return for the Mets. For one, the theme of their trades this season has been to bolster the relief depth in their organization. Last week, they acquired Drew Smith from the Tampa Bay Rays when they dealt away first baseman Lucas Duda.

Only one of the three prospects dealt to the Mets was in John’s top 20 list from the Red Sox. Here’s what he had to say about right-hander Gerson Bautista in his midseason update:

19) Gerson Bautista, RHP, Grade C+: Age 22, signed out of Dominican Republic in 2013; 5.16 ERA in 45 innings in High-A with 53/28 K/BB; clocked as high as 100 MPH but still more thrower than pitcher, high ceiling but needs time.

Bautista was at High-A Salem, so the Mets can try to develop him and hope the command works itself out. This season, teams are hitting .292 against him and he has a 6.14 ERA over his last nine relief outings. However, he does have 16 strikeouts in that time frame.

As for Callahan, the Red Sox drafted him in the second round back in 2012. After going 3-13 as a starter in Low-A Greenville in 2014, the 22-year-old right-hander has been used in the bullpen the last couple of seasons.

At Triple-A Pawtucket, Callahan had a 4.03 ERA in 22 games, four saves, and had 36 strikeouts in 29 innings. He got promoted from Double-A after ten relief outings earlier this year. He does have 11 strikeouts per nine, but he has also walked four batters per nine.

According to Fangraphs, the strikeouts are key for Callahan because there are a lot of balls hit in the air against him. Teams are only hitting groundballs 37% of the time this year against him while flyballs are being hit over 44% of the time. With that being said, he has only given up two home runs in 32 outings between the two leagues, so there is something to that.

Finally, Nogosek was a sixth round pick in the 2016 draft out of Oregon University. The 22-year-old right-hander was a midseason All-Star for Greenville before being promoted to High-A Salem on June 22. Since joining Salem, he is 6-for-7 in saves, but he has a 4.08 ERA and has ten walks in 17.2 innings.

Before the season began, Nogosek got a C grade from John in his Red Sox review. According to MLB Pipeline, he uses a two and four-seam fastball, a slider, cutter, and changeup. The ERA is high, but keep in mind, he gave up six runs in one of those outings against Winston-Salem on July 23.

To sum up this deal, the Mets get a couple of High-A arms that they can further develop and a pitcher in Callahan who if he pitches well, maybe he gets a chance for the Mets down the road in the bullpen. Plus, in the end, the Mets getting AJ Ramos from Miami made it easier for them to deal Reed to an American League contender.